Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [246]
Opposite them, bronze tubes mounted on wheels glinted in the fading light, death lurking in their metal gullets. The weapons looked small in the distance, but my skin prickled at the sight and I found myself shivering in the saddle, remembering the devastating power they had unleashed.
"Moirin." Bao pulled alongside me, his expression worried. "Are you all right?"
"Aye," I murmured, unsure if it were true.
Dusk turned to darkness. We lit lanterns and kept riding. The light from all the fires ahead of us illuminated the night sky.
"So many," Snow Tiger said in dismay. "So many!"
A few hundred yards from the outskirts of the Imperial camp, we paused to wait while Captain Li and several of his men rode onward to bring the news of the princess' arrival to the Emperor. Our plan was to bring her into the camp without causing a stir that the enemy would notice.
We succeeded, barely.
Captain Li returned to fetch us, accompanied by our old companion General Tsieh and a detachment of Imperial guards. On the great-ship, I'd reckoned the general a stoic fellow, but tears shone in his eyes as he gazed on the princess in her stained, threadbare robes. He bowed low in the saddle, hand over fist.
"Noble Highness," he said in a hoarse voice. "It is so very, very good to see you."
"Honored General." She inclined her head. "The pleasure is mine. Had you not undertaken so long and dire a voyage on my behalf, I would not be here before you today. I am grateful for it."
"It was an honor to do so." The general straightened, clearing his throat. "If you would do me a further honor, it would be my privilege to escort you into your father's presence. I assure you, the men have been ordered not to respond to your arrival. His Celestial Majesty is most anxious to see you."
Beneath her blindfold, the princess' face softened. "And I him."
The soldiers of the Imperial army were trained and disciplined. True to their orders, they kept quiet as we entered the camp. No one cheered, no one bowed or knelt. But they stared at her in the firelight as we rode past, and even in the silence, one could feel their reaction. A ripple ran through their ranks, as though the pelt of some unimaginably vast animal had shuddered. The soldiers stared at the princess, they stared at all of us. At Master Lo, at Bao and Tortoise and Ten Tigers Dai, their staves strapped across their backs, faces stern. At me, the foreign witch.
And I understood that whatever else happened, we had just ridden into legend.
A shiver ran down my spine.
The Emperor's tent was in the center of the camp, a vast pavilion of yellow silk. Flanked by guards, he stood before it, cutting a splendid and imposing figure in gilded armor. There was a terrible hunger in his gaze as he watched his daughter approach, her hands sure on the reins despite the blindfold.
At ten paces away, Snow Tiger gestured for us to wait. My throat grew tight as she dismounted and approached on foot, then knelt gracefully before her father and pressed her brow to the earth. "Noble Father and Most Celestial Majesty," she whispered. "I humbly beg you to forgive your most disobedient daughter."
"Is it…" Emperor Zhu's voice trembled. "Is it true?"
"Yes, Father." She lifted her head. "I am here."
With shaking hands, he helped her to her feet, gazing at her face. "Oh, my child." He touched the sword cut on her cheek with infinite tenderness. "You are forgiven. A thousand, thousand times over, you are forgiven."
I swallowed and blinked away tears.
The Emperor glanced over at us. "And you, my old friend," he said to Master Lo Feng, his voice rough with emotion. "You are forgiven, too. You and your stick-wielding ruffians and your jade-eyed witch. For bringing my daughter safely here, you are forgiven."
Master Lo bowed deeply. "For that, I am profoundly grateful, Celestial Majesty, as are we all. We did